Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Is Psy's latest single ingenious, stupid or simply weird?
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A scene from the video of Psy's latest single "Daddy" / Screencapture from YouTube
By Kim Bo-eun
Foreign media outlets give conflicting reviews of ‘Daddy’
Since Psy’s 7th album “Chiljip Psy-da” was released Tuesday, the single “Daddy” has racked up over 18,125,000 views on YouTube as of Thursday noon.
The electronic dance track’s video, which superimposes the K-pop star’s face on an infant, a child and elderly man, has earned an array of adjectives, but most of them carry the meaning “bizarre.”
Newsweek was one of the few outlets that praised the singer and the video.
“Psy, the South Korean musical visionary who introduced the world to his Gangnam Style, has returned with a video for his new single Daddy,” it said.
“To suggest the video has a specific theme would be to limit the unique world in which Psy's genius exists.”
Billboard magazine was another that gave the video a positive review.
“The goofy MC superimposes himself on the bodies of a schoolboy, hairy ballroom dancer and several senior citizens for his most enjoyable visual since his breakout viral vid,” it said.
The U.K. daily, the Independent, however, went with a bold critique in an article titled “Psy tries and fails to recreate Gangnam Style with the completely stupid Daddy.”
“Psy, the South Korean who unleashed Gangnam Style upon the world, has returned with a ridiculous new song in a bid to recreate some of the old viral glory he enjoyed in 2012,” the lead read.
“Predictably, Daddy is absolutely dreadful, complete with terrible dancing (please, don't imitate it on your Saturday night out) and bizarre lyrics about owing your body to your dad," it went on, although ending the piece on a lighter note.
But most of the reviews said the video was plain weird.
The Huffington Post said “The mildly disturbing imagery subsides as the main character gets older, but the video doesn't get any less weird,” referring to the “creepy shots of Psy's face.”
Rolling Stone magazine’s critique was along the same lines, describing the single as “another slab of brash synth-heavy K-pop and a video filled with outlandish costume changes and dance moves” and with other adjectives such as “ridiculous” and “silly.”
The song itself seems to be garnering less attention than the video, as a contribution by Mike Fenn to Forbes aptly pointed out.
“However it doesn't appear that those views are to listen to the electronic beats that “Daddy” contains (“arguably, the tune is not as much as an earworm as was Gangnam Style),” it said.
“Rather, people seem to be tuning in to see its truly bizarre imagery.”